Like water, leadership becomes what it is poured into. An organisation is likely to become engrained with the characteristics of its leaders; as a leader therefore, it is important to have the right tone and culture that will steer the organisation in the right direction. Through their actions and decisions, leaders have the ability to make or break an organisation, says Jubal Mugisha an assistant manager. Without proper leadership, all other company resources are bound to be incompetent. Rightly so, since leadership is the foremost factor in synchronising all other resources to work efficiently. The ability to align individual, team and company goals comes down to the leadership of the organisation. Leaders however need to understand that leading others is more about teamwork and not imposing dominance, Mugisha says. “Leaders are instrumental when it comes to framing tactical strategies for the company to operate and grow. They are also in the best position to motivate and guide employees towards achieving company goals. It is the leader’s duty to ensure they possess the right skills to influence employees into building and achieving a company’s mission and objectives,” he adds. What is effective leadership? Leadership is said not to be about the titles and honours. Effective leadership is believed to be influential and profound. An effective leader is one who amasses and inspires enthusiasm for the company while bringing out the best of their employees. According to the Runrun.it blog, effective leadership is about executing the company’s vision or redefining and improving it, in some cases. Leadership means creating and planning, securing resources, and looking out for and improving errors. Leadership is about motivating people to work together and cooperate with themselves and in some cases, other teams, to achieve a certain goal. It’s also important to point out that leadership is different from managing. While management is also an integral part of the success of an organisation, it is fundamentally different from leadership. Managers manage things. They look at logistics, balance budgets, and so on. While good managers can also have effective leadership skills, which is actually very ideal, the two do not necessarily always go together. The blog points to the fact that effective leadership shines not only when the going is good, but also when things are rough. They are respected (not feared) by the people around them, who in turn, become motivated to work harder and make more significant contributions to the betterment of the organisation as well. Conferred by the power that comes with their position, Evelyn Kamugisha a project coordinator at a local non-profit believes that great leaders should possess the ability to drive their team with fervour and inspiration. But most importantly, they should have passion for what they do, this is the best way to inspire and motivate their subordinates. “Effective leaders recognise that for employees to perform to their best, they need to be valued and showed that what they are doing is meaningful for the company. This however calls for certain traits such as good communication skills, respect, boldness and clear integrity from the side of the leader.” Effective leadership, in essence, also involves leading by example. It’s hard to respect someone who asks everyone to come on time, or work towards a certain goal if that person isn’t willing to come on time or put in their share of the work themselves. To be more precise, effective leadership is almost always one of the main and primary drivers for growth, development and innovation. That’s why leadership is about inspiring and motivating people to work together towards a common goal.
